Police in Creston report three people were arrested Monday, two of them on warrants. 21-year old Mandee Barnes, of Creston, was arrested Monday morning for Simple Domestic Assault. Barnes was being held in the Adams County Jail while awaiting bond. Monday afternoon, 25-year old James Williams, of Grand River, was arrested in Creston on a Union County warrant for Theft in the 5th Degree. His bond was set at $300. And, 23-year old Jacey Glynn, of Lenox, was arrested Monday afternoon in Creston, on a Union County warrant for Failure to Appear in Court, on original charges of Assault and 5th Degree Criminal Mischief. Glynn was later released on a $600 bond.

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A trial has been scheduled for a man accused of killing a woman at her home in Dubuque. Court records say 53-year-old Garry James has pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder. Police say he stabbed to death 53-year-old Michelle Kinney on July 21. Her body was found by friends. Police say evidence collected from James’ clothing “corroborated evidence” found in Kinney’s apartment. James’ trial is set to begin Sept. 25.

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) — Police in South Carolina say two people trafficked a 16-year-old Iowa girl for sex through five states. The Sun News cites an affidavit from Myrtle Beach police that says a possible human trafficking investigation began Thursday. According to Horry County inmate records, 23-year-old Mark Cortez Spicer of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was arrested Saturday in connection with the trafficking.
Police say Spicer, a co-defendant and the underage victim came to Myrtle Beach on Aug. 13 after stops in Iowa, Chicago, Nashville and Atlanta. An affidavit says sex acts took place in all five places.
In Myrtle Beach, Spicer’s co-defendant posted sex ads online.

The victim told police that Spicer benefited from the funds received from her prostitution. The name of Spicer’s co-defendant hasn’t been released.

The Atlantic School District’s Board of Education will meet in a Special Session 5:15-p.m. today, at the High School Media Center. On their agenda, is approval of a Girls Swimming contract with the Harlan Community School District. According to school officials, a former Atlantic swimmer currently with the HSD, wants to swim competitively this year, and making it available to her requires that the two school districts have a sharing agreement, which has already been approved by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. Currently, Atlantic shares Girls’ Swimming with Audubon and Clarinda.

In other business, the Board will act on Open Enrollment Applications, and contract recommendations for:

• Natalie Ritter – Interim Food Service Director
• Melanie McDermott – Schuler Elem. Head Cook
• and Ann Hinton – School Bus Driver.

(Radio Iowa) — School districts across the state are having trouble finding enough teachers to fill their positions — especially in certain subject areas such as physics. Iowa Department of Education teacher preparation consultant, Tom Bice, says smaller districts have a harder time finding teachers. He says pay could be one issue. “Not surprisingly, some of the larger places like Ankeny, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Ames, places like that generally pay more for beginning teachers. But there are some rural areas that will pay relatively high,” Bice says.

The state has a minimum starting teacher salary of 33-thousand-500 dollars. The latest figures Bice has are one year old, but they show most schools are paying more to get new teachers. “There were still 14 districts that were paying 33-500. Most of them pay something about that. The highest one — most beginning teachers can make around 50-thousand dollars — so there is a huge discrepancy there in salary,” Bice says. He says another factor in districts finding teachers is the low unemployment rate in the state. Bice says teachers may be recruited away to other jobs. “When they come out of there with that degree it is a very, very good degree to use in a lot of work in other than just teaching,” according to Bice. “And so if somebody comes out of college and can make 30-500 teaching, and can make 50 (thousand) doing something else — they have to be really, really dedicated to do that teaching.”

He has worked in teacher preparation and seen prospective teachers lured away because of the skills they bring in a tight job market. “You’re learning how to think on your feet, you’re learning how to manage difficulties, you’re learning how to think quickly and to reason…and to work with people. It makes you very marketable,” Bice explains.  A change in state law took collective bargaining out of the equation for teacher salaries. Bice says there’s not enough information yet to determine if that has changed things compared to the way teacher salaries used to work. “The school has a set budget and before collective bargaining went away, basically the district and the union would negotiate a salary structure,” Bice says. “So if you had X number of years of experience and X number of credit hours, then you got paid X. And that was all negotiated ahead of time.”

He says there could be a benefit to some teachers in shortage areas who want to leverage more money. “You may be able to bargain yourself. If you are a physics teacher and you’re getting looked at by four different schools — you might have some leeway in trying to get some more salary. It depends on what type of school structure that school has,” Bice says. He says most schools still use some sort of pay structure, even without collective bargaining. Bice says the salaries paid by the districts are based on that structure.